A hotel developer who received a $1 million incentive package Tuesday in Marina will ask the Seaside City Council on Thursday for exclusive negotiating rights for two possible hotels on city Fort Ord land. The Marina City Council on Tuesday voted 3-2 to approve a plan to waive about $1 million in up-front fees on a proposed Marriott Springhill Suites Hotel in the Dunes development. City officials say the money, and more, would be paid within a four-year period from bed tax revenues generated by the hotel — an estimated $500,000 a year. “If it doesn’t work out, no money is coming out of our hide right now,” Marina Mayor Bruce Delgado said Wednesday. “Right now, we have zero money coming in.”

A principal in the Marina hotel project by Peninsula Hotels Group is Seaside businessman Harbhajan Dadwal, who owns fast-food restaurants and other hotels in the area, Delgado said. Since the fall, Dadwal has been seeking negotiating rights for a hotel project on Fort Ord land in Seaside. On Thursday, the Seaside City Council is scheduled to consider approving those rights for a two-hotel project on five acres on Lightfighter Drive.

“I think his plan is to build at least one hotel in each city,” Delgado said. Dadwal said the proposed hotels in Marina and Seaside “are very much separate” and would be compatible. In September, Dadwal submitted a proposal for a two-phase hotel project on Seaside’s Fort Ord parcel known as the “26 acres” site. The proposal now calls for two, 120-room hotels and a 8,000 square-foot, sit-down restaurant, says a report prepared for the Seaside council.

One hotel would be a Springhill Suite by Marriott, and the other would be a Hampton Inns and Suites by Hilton, the report says. The exclusive negotiating rights would be for a year to refine the plan, complete a market study, submit a formal project application and complete the environmental review. Seaside City Manager John Dunn said he was aware of Dadwal’s proposal in Marina and the incentives approved by the Marina council. “It will be up to him to state whether the Marina hotel (proposal) has an impact on his proposal to us,” Dunn said Wednesday. Dadwal said construction could start by next summer on the Marina hotel. The Seaside project would take longer because of the environmental review process, he said.

$200 million, that’s how much it may cost to build a new downtown hotel tied to the new MAPS 3 convention center. On Tuesday, the city council got a look at those numbers.One city councilman criticized the proposed hotel project as an irresponsible use of taxpayer dollars.At the same time, the hotel plans have seeped into the race for mayor in Oklahoma City. Ed Shadid, city council member, said,”We are moving toward possible ownership of a $200 million hotel without a vote of the people.”

Shadid, who’s running for mayor, believes that since it’s unlikely a private developer would pay for the entire hotel project, the city will have to fund much of the plan. He said, “Even without complete ownership, it’s going to require massive taxpayer subsidies and people should be able to vote on whether they want that kind of commitment.”Mayor Mick Cornett says it’s simply not clear how much of the hotel’s cost would have to be publicly subsidized.

He adds that when the Cox Convention Center got expanded in the first MAPS project, some public money was spent on the Renaissance Hotel project. The only difference this time is the size of the investment. “At this point, it’s premature to talk about any public-private partnership that may be involved,” said Cornett. “It’s a moving target to know exactly what type of convention center hotel we need long-term.” A separate study will detail how much public money will be needed to make the hotel feasible. Shadid also criticized that the release of that study won’t happen until after next year’s mayoral election.

Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc., which began trading shares on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, expects to introduce a new hotel brand in 2014 aimed at affluent, young travelers by emphasizing style and design. Chief Executive Christopher Nassetta said Hilton is exploring plans for a boutique hotel, or “lifestyle” brand. It would aim to compete with W Hotels, a brand developed by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., HOT +1.28% and Marriott International Inc. MAR +1.20% ‘s fledgling Edition hotels, which the company is developing with famed hotelier Ian Schrager. “It’s something we’re working on,” Mr. Nassetta said in an interview at the stock exchange, where Hilton shares rose 7.5% to $21.50 on their first day of trading. Hilton sold 117.6 million shares Wednesday, raising about $2.35 billion in the largest-ever hotel initial public offering. Hilton ended the day with a market value of about $21 billion, compared with $14 billion for both Starwood and Marriott.

Hilton has 10 brands and a wide range of hotels, from limited service properties like Hampton Inn to luxury names like Waldorf Astoria and Conrad. But Hilton has been mostly frustrated in its efforts to add a boutique brand to its roster. About five years ago, the McLean, Va., hotel operator identified a lifestyle brand as a major growth initiative for the company, and Mr. Nassetta and his team were developing one that was dubbed Denizen. Hilton already had begun talks with developers in Abu Dhabi, London, Mumbai and New York about establishing Denizen hotels when it was hit with a 2009 lawsuit by Starwood, which alleged that Hilton was using stolen confidential documents to develop the new chain. Hilton eventually settled with Starwood, which included a cash payment to Starwood and an agreement that prevented Hilton from entering the lifestyle segment for two years. That prohibition expired in January, but Hilton has been quiet about any plans for a boutique brand since. Mr. Nassetta also said Hilton doesn’t plan to sell any properties next year. Green Street Advisors, a real estate research firm, put the value of the company’s properties’ at roughly $13 billion, including debt, and has suggested that Hilton might look to sell assets to pay down more debt. The company’s hotels include the Waldorf Astoria in New York and the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki.

But Hilton thinks it is better not to sell in the short term, even though in recent years the company has focused on growing by adding franchises, rather than by adding properties. That is in part because when the hotel business is strong, as it is now, there is more money to be made as an owner than as a franchiser. Most of the Hilton-owned hotels are large properties with hundreds of rooms, and group travel especially is showing signs of improving. Mr. Nassetta said some of these properties could be converted to timeshare or residential properties. Mr. Nassetta also said additional Hilton full-service hotels likely will end traditional room service. The New York Hilton Midtown made waves over the summer when it stopped round-the-clock food delivery from a separate kitchen, replacing it with a more casual “grab and go” food service that could be delivered to rooms throughout the day and evening but not overnight. “We are definitely going to do it at other places,” Mr. Nassetta said. The move by the prominent Manhattan hotel surprised hotel traditionalists. But Mr. Nassetta said the switch was both cost effective and popular with guests, who wanted more casual dining and faster delivery. Hotel analysts say other major brands are watching closely and could experiment with their own version of room-service light.

What’s in your wallet? Perhaps nothing. That’s what happens when you don’t have FDIC insurance: you’re just plain out of luck. A recent spate of hacks is plaguing bitcoin exchanges and draining the digital wallets of users of the crypto currency. Bitcash.cz, a bitcoin exchange in the Czech Republic, is the latest to report a breach, saying “unknown perpetrators” attacked the service Monday.

“The nightmare became reality,” a notice on the website says. The value of the theft and the number of users impacted has not yet been reported.

Meanwhile, users of another bitcoin wallet, Inputs.io, suffered two hacks at the end of October that drained a total of 4,100 bitcoins from the service. Prevailing exchange rates for bitcoins at the time of the attacks would bring the total of that breach to well over $1 million.

The Internet-based, decentralized currency has recently traded to record highs nearing $400, fueled in part by high demand in China. Bitcoin wallets hold the value of the digital currency for access by consumers.

“Two hacks totaling about 4,100 BTC have left Inputs.io unable to pay all user balances,” a notice on the exchange’s website said. “The attacker compromised the hosting account through compromising email accounts (some very old, and without phone numbers attached, so it was easy to reset). The attacker was able to bypass [two-factor authentication] due to a flaw on the server host side.”

On its website, Inputs.io had claimed to be “the most secure wallet ever created.”

“I know this doesn’t mean much, but I’m sorry, and saying that I’m very sad that this happened is an understatement,” the statement continued. “I don’t recommend storing any bitcoins accessible on computers connected to the Internet.”

Bitcoin holders should worry not only about exchange hacks, but the trustworthiness of the exchanges themselves. The Want China Times reports Chinese-based bitcoin trading platform GBL suddenly shut down October 26, bilking some 1,000 users of over $4 million.

The W³ Award Competition is hosted and judged by the International Academy of the Visual Arts, an invitation-only body consisting of top-tier professionals from a “Who’s Who” of acclaimed media, interactive, advertising, and marketing firms. Website entries into the competition were judged on creativity, usability, navigation, functionality, visual design, and ease of use. MICROS is honored to be selected as a Gold award recipient for the Parc 55 Wyndham (www.parc55hotel.com) website in the Hotel and Lodging category. In addition, MICROS also won Silver awards for the Joie de Vivre Hotels website (www.jdvhotels.com), the Delta Hotels website (www.deltahotels.com), and the Mystic Hotel website (www.mystichotel.com). “When partnering with clients to design their websites, our principal focus is producing creative, innovative, unique websites that drive direct bookings,” stated John Gularson, Executive Vice President of eCommerce, MICROS. “We are pleased to share these honors with our clients.”

MICROS Systems, Inc. provides leading enterprise-wide applications, services and hardware for the hospitality and retail industries. Serving an extensive portfolio of clients worldwide, MICROS solutions are utilized in over hotels, casinos, table and quick service restaurants, retail, leisure and entertainment, fuel and convenience, cruise, and travel operations in more than 180 countries, and on all seven continents. MICROS combines its industry knowledge and expertise to provide cloud-based, mobile and on premise solutions that allow its clients to streamline operations and successfully engage their customers. MICROS applications include point of sale, property management, central systems, business intelligence, eCommerce, loyalty, CRM, loss prevention, distributed order management, labor management, inventory management, and merchandise planning solutions. MICROS services include hosting and SaaS, platform implementation and integration, strategic business consulting, interactive marketing, design services including creative and user experience, and managed services. MICROS stock is traded through NASDAQ under the symbol MCRS.

The call comes after Oxford University researchers carried out an analysis of 14 different studies looking at how young people use the internet.

The review – published in the Plos One journal – said a number of studies had found a link between internet use and self-harm and suicide.

But it said others had found the internet could be a positive influence.

The dangers of internet use have received widespread coverage this year. In one case, in August, 14-year-old Hannah Smith from Leicestershire was found hanged after she had been sent abusive messages on a social networking site.

Since then research by the NSPCC has suggested a fifth of 11 to 16-year-olds have had negative experiences using the internet.

‘Socially isolated’

The Oxford University research highlighted a number of dangers from internet use, including the normalising of self-harm and the risk of bullying.

It also said there was a “strong link” between internet forums and an increased risk of suicide in particular.

But the researchers said some studies had shown that internet forums could support and connect socially isolated people.

There were also examples where forum users encouraged positive behaviour, advised others to seek help and congratulated each other for not harming themselves.

Report author Prof Keith Hawton said: “Communication via the internet and other electronic means has potential roles in both contributing to and preventing suicidal behaviour in young people.

“The next step is going to be development of therapeutic interventions using these channels of communication, especially to access those who do not seek help from clinical services.”

Joe Ferns of the Samaritans added: “We should acknowledge that many people are using suicide forums and chatrooms to anonymously discuss their feelings of distress and despair, including suicidal thoughts, which may have a positive impact on the individual. They may be expressing feelings that they have never disclosed to anyone in their offline lives.

“Rather than concentrating primarily on ways of blocking and censoring such sites, we should think about online opportunities to reach out to people in emotional distress.”

The design of a 90-room hotel proposed in Saranac Lake was presented publicly for the first time last week. Malone developer Chris LaBarge wants to locate the upscale, $15-million hotel on the site of three existing Lake Flower motels. Village planning board members said they like the look and design of the hotel, but the height of the nearly 60-foot building remains an issue.LaBarge said the building was designed to match the architecture of some of the old hotels of the Saranac Lake area and throughout the Adirondacks. The building includes a wraparound porch and a steep mansard-style roof with integrated dormers. LaBarge also said he’s worked to reduce the height of what was initially proposed as a five-story building. “Really, what we’ve done is we’ve lowered the roof height from the last concept that I brought to you in August; this has gone down over 9 feet,” he said. Planning board member Scott Stoddard said he likes the design, but said he’s concerned about the hotel’s height, given its location. “It’s not far off the road,” he said. “It’s a long stretch. And I understand the screening elements and whatnot, but it’s a tall building that stretches a long distance along the edge of the road there, and the lake.” Stoddard said a three-story building would be more appropriate. But LaBarge said that doesn’t fit the economics of the project. “We won’t have a project if it’s a three-story building because to accomplish what we need to, we can’t put rooms on the first floor,” LaBarge said, “otherwise we’re not creating an iconic destination resort in Saranac Lake, so the project wouldn’t go.” The project is being reviewed as the village’s first ever planned development district, which gives the village board of trustees the final say on the building’s height and other issues. LaBarge said he’s working with the state Adirondack Park Agency on a visual analysis of the proposed hotel. He expects to present that to the planning board at its meeting in November.